Mailles by Compagnie Kadidi - Birmingham Hippodrome Review

Post

Subscribe

Sat 02 Jul 2022

Compagnie Kadidi's Mailles brings together the stories, experiences and voices of six women who are African or of African descent. Staged at the Patrick Studio at Birmingham Hippodrome, the performance was the UK premiere of the work and formed part of the Birmingham International Dance Festival.

Mailles translates as 'mesh' or 'stitches' and the work, created by Rwandan-born choreographer, author and musician Dorothee Munyaneza, interweaves these stories across an hour-long production, stitching and meshing so that they hold together but also pull apart.



In doing so, Mailles also brings together a huge range of dance and movement styles, song, verse, spoken word in different languages and diverse music from hand-held bell ringing through to electronic beats and jazz.

The work begins with the sound of a bell gradually building as more join to create their own cacophony of sound. Equally the dancing begins with a single figure barefoot, pulsing into the floor before the stage gradually fills.

As the stories interconnect, the focus shifts back and forth between dance, song, verse, solos and a stage filled with whirling bodies. Exploring themes of migration and home, heritage and alienation, connectedness and disconnection, and antecedence and legacy through the prism of African female perspective, there is conflict but also joy throughout the work.

While the stories are individual, they also resonate across female experiences as we see the carer who feels bound to her parent, the woman tied to traditions from which she longs to be free and the woman who travels through countries searching to put down roots.

Munyaneza has collaborated with Parisian artist and designer Stephanie Coudert on the set and costumes which are a blend of minimal black and bright orange clashed with blue. Fabrics hang from the ceiling, offering dancers both protection and concealment but also connection, a further interweaving.



The six performers, Ife Day, Moya Michael, Asmaa Jama, Elsa Mulder, Nido Uwera and Munyaneza bring a raw energy to the piece. Whether they are singing, speaking or dancing, each performance comes from the heart with a conviction to every word or step.

This year's BIDF between June 17 and July 3 has featured a huge range of productions, both indoors and outdoors, from community performances to internationally renowned companies.

The festival offers Birmingham audiences the chance to see works on their doorstep that would otherwise be unlikely to visit the city. Innovative, thought-provoking and allowing audiences to step into other cultures even for an hour or so, works such as Mailles are an important addition to the city's cultural offering.

#july
#theatres
#theatre_reviews
#theatre
#festivals
#dancing
#central_birmingham
!date 02/07/2022 -- 02/07/2022
%wnbirmingham